A Dry Autumn & Autumn Flowering Bulbs.

A very dry Autumn. 

We have had a very dry Autumn here in Victoria none the less the bulbs have not turned a hair.
They are loving the Summer warmth and flowering well. An Australian native, Blandfordia grandiflora above flowering now and does not like to be dried out. Very similar to Blandfordia punicea which I prefer as it is much dwarfer in statue, the bells may be slightly smaller but B. puicea has far more red on the bells apologies for the quality of photo as it is scanned from my slides. This photo was taken at Cradle Mountain Tasmania and I have just included it here so you can see the comparison between the two.

At our last meeting I won the door prize, I never usually win anything, but Jon had bought along this beautiful Narcissus tazetta 'First Stanza'  a cross between Narcissus elegans and Narcissus Soleil D'Or 8W-O and it has wonderful tiny dark orange cup with creamy perianth flowering in Autumn. Jon has written on the back of the label "First jonquil to flower in autumn, weeks after a wet, cool change. They can be forced to flower by watering in the cool shade in February. This is a Lawrence Trevanion cross, it's fully fertile. Strong grower".

Sternbergia lutea another plant from the glass house, these bulbs are from Ray's mum she always grew these in Apollo Bay. They grow beautifully in the garden and are out in all their glory but I just like to have a pot stashed away in case something happens to them. There is no sign of Sternbergia sicula yet. I do wish I could get some of the white forms from seed, does any one know where to get seed from please?

Cyclamen mirabile Tilebarn Nichollas from Holland seed, grown in the glass house as I find the C. mirabile flower better for me, I grow some in the garden but they do not flower nearly as well. I like to see them up close too. 

 This seedling came up in Crocus seed from Marcus Harvey that was collected on Greece. It is Colchicum montana, much larger in flower than mine, flowers early, and is a very dark form just shows, you should never discard a rogue seed, look what you might get.

Colchicum Princess Astrid from Marcus Harvey is now multiplying well, I just wanted to show you the tessellated flower.

Adenophera yehatae from Lynns Rare Plants and Adenophera morrisonensis ssp Yehatae AGS seed 1061 from 2016 (below) there is so much difference in these two plants, they are both lovely both flowering now.

Anemone tryllifolia from Otto raised from seed.

Nerine maxiania from my own seed as I have lost the original plants many years ago, they are doing very well in full sun in the rock garden, with good drainage.(above and below).

Ramonda x regis ferdinandii from Otto has done extremely well for me from what Otto has said to me this was a hybrid raised at the Munich Botanic Gardens that he received in 1989, a hybrid between Ramonda myconii and Ramonda nathaliae. The Munich Botanic gardens have since lost this plant and Otto thinks he is the only person that still has it growing and now I have it growing as well, it flowers nearly all year and is very floriferous, and I love the Ramonda's they are such special plants.

Vallota speciosa new name Cyranthus elatus from southern Africa, easy in a well drained position like's a little high shade in summer months.

Haemanthus coccineus now this does have very large leaves and needs plenty of room, nick name Elephant ears, there is a white form that I think is wishy washy.